Ron Johnson Said:

The M2V has an AM2 socket, and all such chips are 64-bit capable, so
both 2.6.39-1-686-pae and 2.6.39-1-amd64 *should* work.

(I think you'd get a different error if the kernel was incompatible with
the CPU.)

----

The first thing I noticed about these two Kernels was the one is an amd64, the second is a i686-PAE which means it's a 32 bit with larger than 4GB Memory Support.

My spin off question is this, can a user install a 32bit system (i686) and then choose to move to a 64bit system and perform a rolling update as such?

I know that fundamentally, a 64 bit system consist of a 64bit Kernel and the core libraries (libc, gcc, etc.) Are 64bit, I am to understand that 32bit libs are present for backwards compatibility, but I'm not sure if those libraries are different from the ones in a 32bit only system.

So my question boils down to if you can rolling update from 32bit to a 64bit system? If so what all would be involved? And does it boil down to being possible, but so intense as to negate the purpose, e.g. Just plain easier/better to wipe and start fresh.

TeddyB

On Sb, 04 iun 11, 05:46:56, teddieeb@tmo.blackberry.net wrote:
>
> Ron Johnson Said:
>
> The M2V has an AM2 socket, and all such chips are 64-bit capable, so
> both 2.6.39-1-686-pae and 2.6.39-1-amd64 *should* work.
>
> (I think you'd get a different error if the kernel was incompatible with
> the CPU.)
>
> ----

[re-wrapped to 72 characters]

> The first thing I noticed about these two Kernels was the one is an
> amd64, the second is a i686-PAE which means it's a 32 bit with larger
> than 4GB Memory Support.

Yes

> My spin off question is this, can a user install a 32bit system (i686)
> and then choose to move to a 64bit system and perform a rolling update
> as such?

It can be, and has been done before, but...

> I know that fundamentally, a 64 bit system consist of a 64bit Kernel
> and the core libraries (libc, gcc, etc.) Are 64bit, I am to understand
> that 32bit libs are present for backwards compatibility, but I'm not
> sure if those libraries are different from the ones in a 32bit only
> system.

The Debian amd64 port is as "pure" as possible. 32bit libraries are only
installed in very few cases and mostly for non-free software (skype is
for me the big culprit here).

However, there is work in progress on true multiarch[1] support, where
it will be possible to mix packages as needed. It *might* be ready until
wheezy is released.

[1] AFAIU other distros have bi-arch support, where some combinations of
ports are possible. Debian wants to go further

> So my question boils down to if you can rolling update from 32bit to a
> 64bit system? If so what all would be involved? And does it boil down
> to being possible, but so intense as to negate the purpose, e.g. Just
> plain easier/better to wipe and start fresh.

Yes, at the moment it's so complicated to do a cross-grading that it's
not worth it (I just wiped and reinstalled yesterday to move back from
amd64 to i386).

Regards,
Andrei
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Offtopic discussions among Debian users and developers:
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Andrei POPESCU Said:

[re-wrapped to 72 characters]

-----

Sorry about that, I send list mails from my cell phone, very small screen, not much I can do about the text length.

Otherwise thank you for the reply. Just curious, are the 32bit Libraries that can be installed upon need in a 64bit install the exact same libraries/packages as in 32bit only installs?

If so are the 64bit lib's just named such to prevent conflicts, overwrites, and general confusion?

Thanks;
TeddyB


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